Secrets Revealed
by ninjadevil2000
Summary: Remus Lupin and Lily Evans discover secrets that have been hidden away far too long.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, places, etc.**

**Author's Note: I really enjoyed writing this and once again, thank you to my mentor lun27 for beta reading this for me. Please drop a review. It would really mean a lot to know what you all thought.**

* * *

**Written for the IWSC November Practice Round**

**School and Year: NA**

**Theme: Misunderstood**

**Main Prompt: [Platonic Relationship] Remus Lupin and Lily Evans**

**Additional Prompts: [Emotion] Anxiety and [Spell] Wadiwasi**

**Word count: 2993**

* * *

Lily was standing in a corner of the Gryffindor Common Room, camouflaged by a, dare she say, exemplary performance of a Disillusionment Charm. _"Professor Flitwick would be proud,"_ Lily thought with a smile.

She was standing quietly, blending in with the window drapes behind her, watching the four troublemakers in front of her with intense focus. James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin, or as they had dubbed themselves, the Marauders. They were sitting in a little circle, discussing something in hushed tones.

So many times had Lily seen the Marauders murmuring to one another in whispers, occasionally casting looks over their shoulders to make sure they weren't being overheard, and she had always ignored them, but now, curiosity was finally getting the better of her, and she was determined to figure out what they were discussing.

For a while, Lily had just assumed that they were talking about pranks or jokes or similar antics, but as she started to pay closer attention, she realized that it had to be more serious than that. She had seen them talking about pranks and stuff before, and they weren't near as secretive about that as they were about whatever this was. And that meant that whatever this topic was had to be serious, and Lily had a sneaking suspicion that it could be dangerous, perhaps even endangering to herself and other students.

It was late, but Lily had prepared for this, for she had noticed that the Marauders only spoke about whatever this was after the whole room was almost empty. She had arranged the pillows in her dorm under her blankets, making it appear as though she was already in bed, asleep. She had even transfigured one of her stuffed animals to resemble hair and changed the color to match her red locks, arranging it at the top of her bed to look like her own hair. So, apart from her and the Marauders, only a couple of older boys were still awake in the Common Room, but they were too busy cracking jokes and drinking stolen Firewhisky while chatting about girls to notice anything that wasn't a pretty blonde.

As Lily watched the Marauders, their tones incredibly quiet for boys with such loud personalities, she caught a few words that piqued her interest. _Moon. Wolf. Willow. Shack. Time. _

Lily bit her lip in thoughtfulness, hesitantly taking another step forward, careful not to move too fast less the Disillusionment Charm flicker and signify her presence.

"I'll be fine, you guys. Stop worrying," Lupin was saying now. "C'mon, let's get to bed. It's late and we've got that Potions exam tomorrow morning."

Potter, Black, and Pettigrew nodded, yawning and standing up before moving upstairs to the boys' dormitories.

Lily, to her malcontent, had not picked up anything interesting, she thought. That was until she ran through the words again and again in her mind.

_Moon. Wolf. Willow. Shack. Time. Moon. Wolf. Time. Moon. Wolf._

Lily's eyes widened. "No, it can't be." She dispelled the Charm and ran upstairs to her own dorm, ignoring the two drunk boys that jumped with fright at her sudden appearance. She reached her dorm and pulled her trunk out from under her bunk, rummaging through it for her calendar, not caring whether the racket woke up her sleeping friends.

Finally, she found it and started flipping through the pages, thinking hard. "Okay, last month when Lupin wasn't here," Lily murmured to herself, "it was the last weekend of the month. I remember 'cause it was a Hogsmeade weekend and Lupin wasn't with the other three." As she flipped to the correct page, her eyes found a little moon symbol in the bottom left corner, signifying that that weekend had been the full moon. And so Lily continued, searching her memories for the times when Remus hadn't been at school and every date she remembered, there was always a little full moon in the bottom left corner.

After an hour of checking dates, Lily sat against her bed, limp with shock.

Remus Lupin was a werewolf. A werewolf. Lily realized that that must be why he was always so pale and why so many scars littered his face and what of his arms she had seen. That was why he always came back from those mysterious disappearances looking ill and thin as though he'd been starved for a month.

Everything she had heard and read always said that werewolves were monsters. That they shouldn't be allowed to live because they were so dangerous. But now, Lily knew everything of that to be false. She didn't particularly like Potter and Black. In fact, she almost downright despised them with their constant bullying of Severus and stupid pranking. They were gits, she thought.

But Lupin had always been a bit nicer, more considerate. More than once, Lily had noticed him stopping Potter and Black when they were going too far in their pranking. She could hardly picture him hurting people. She ended up crawling into bed at some point that evening, but needless to say she did not get any sleep.

* * *

The next evening, after spending the entire day fretting and wondering about how she would broach the subject with Remus, Lily was poking at her dinner, uninterested in the conversation Marlene and Dorcas were trying to include her in.

She kept throwing glances down a few seats where the Marauders sat, always seeming to be laughing at something or other. Finally, after what felt like an hour, the Marauders left, presumably for the Common Room. Muttering an excuse to her friends, Lily pushed her plate away and scrambled out of her seat to go after them.

She followed them at a safe distance, but as they reached the Portrait Hole, she hurried to catch up. "Erm, Remus?" she called.

Remus turned around, as did Potter, Black, and Pettigrew.

"Can I talk to you?" Lily asked, wringing her hands together behind her back. Never had Lily been this nervous about anything, except maybe her first few days at Hogwarts, but this was something she had never even thought about, and now she was about to confront a werewolf and tell him she knew his secret. Lily wasn't even sure what she was doing anymore.

"I s'pose," Remus replied.

"Hey, Evans," Potter said. Lily saw Black smirk and pull him into the Portrait Hole. Pettigrew followed with a small smile at Lily which she returned.

Now, Remus and Lily were alone.

"What did you want to talk about?" Remus asked kindly. Obviously, he could sense her nervousness. For a second, Lily wondered about werewolves and if they had heightened senses or other wolf-like qualities, but she gave herself a mental shake. That was a question for another time.

"Um." Lily reached up and tugged on a chunk of her own hair. _Merlin, why was she being so hesitant?_ She was looking at her feet, mumbling, "Um, Remus, I –– I think I know something."

She glanced up at Remus. _Merlin, why did he have to be so much taller than her? _

"What is it, Lily?" Remus asked. He looked curiously at her.

Lily took a deep breath and then said quickly, "Remus, I know you're a werewolf."

Remus froze. The comforting smile fell from his face, and he glanced around, looking for pairs of unwelcome ears.

"How did you find out?" Remus asked, his voice dropping so low, almost into a whisper.

"I –– I was listening on your conversation with the others last night. I thought you guys might be talking about something dangerous so I thought I ought to try and figure out what it was, but –– but instead I heard ––"

"You heard about me, didn't you?" Remus interrupted. He wiped his hands over his face and sighed. "What will you do?" he asked, his tone exasperated and full of agitation.

"Well, can you fill me in?" Lily asked. "I mean, does McGonagall know? Does Dumbledore?"

Remus nodded. "Yes, yes, yes, Dumbledore and McGonagall both know. And James, Sirius, and Peter all know of course. They found out in second year before I was able to come up with believable lies." He sighed. "Are you gonna tell anyone?"

Lily shook her head emphatically. "No, I won't. If Dumbledore knows, then that's good enough for me. I just wanted to be honest with you."

Remus pressed his lips together and nodded. "Well, I –– I really appreciate that, Lily. Really, I do."

Lily smiled at him, and since the conversation seemed be over, she approached the Fat Lady's portrait, but Remus caught her arm.

"Lily," he said.

"What is it?"

"I mean what I said. Not many people are as kind as you and would still talk to me after learning what I am. I just want you to know that, if you ever need someone to talk to or help, I'll be there for you."

Lily hesitated. She wondered for a second if she should share her own secret with the tall boy in front of her, but believing that it was a bad idea, she rearranged her features into a smile once more. "Thanks, Remus. And the same to you." Then she turned, muttered the password, and went into the Common Room.

A few hours later, Lily lay in bed, still wide awake and staring at the bottom of the bunk above her. She thought about how close she had been to telling Remus about her problems, but he had his own. She didn't need to put more pressure on him, and after all, she couldn't tell him. It just wasn't possible.

* * *

Some days passed and Lily hadn't spoken to Remus since their conversation outside the Common Room. She had seen him in passing, exchanging glances or a smile but nothing more than that.

Lily sat eating her dinner, happily unaware of the problems that awaited her when she'd exit the hall. She thought about her day and laughed with Dorcas and Marlene as they looked across the hall at boys they thought were cute, being normal teenage girls.

But a little while later, as the three girls finished dinner and left the hall, Lily remained behind.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you in a bit," she said to them. "I –– uh –– I need to return this book to the library."

"Oh, okay, no problem," Marlene said, and her and Dorcas continued upstairs.

But Lily didn't turn to go to the library. Instead, she walked to the other side of the corridor where, concealed in shadow by a large gargoyle, three girls stood.

Bellatrix Black, a fifth year with curly black hair and a sinister smile.

Alecto Carrow, a fourth year like Lily with short blonde hair and a devilish grin, with something in her eyes that made you instantly afraid.

And Dolores Umbridge, a seventh year. She wore her Slytherin robes diligently, but everywhere there was a pink accent. She wore a large pink headband, pink handkerchiefs poked out of her pockets, and even her wand held a pinkish hue.

All three were Slytherins and big pureblood fanatics, but even bigger bullies. About once a month –– because they were actually smart enough not to do it too often in case of getting caught –– they waited for Lily outside the Great Hall.

Then they would lead her to the dungeons where they could insult her and hex her without consequences. It was the strangest and most frightening ritual Lily had ever witnessed, let alone experienced. So many times had she wanted to race to Professor McGonagall, or Professor Flitwick, or even Professor Dumbledore and ask for their help. But she couldn't.

Because if she did, Black, Carrow, and Umbridge had threatened to start bullying her friends –– Dorcas especially, since she was a Muggle-born like Lily –– and Lily had no doubts that they would fulfill that threat without an ounce of hesitancy.

So Lily sighed and followed the three girls to the dungeons.

"How was your day, Mudblood?" Bellatrix spat once they were out of earshot of fellow students.

As usual, Lily didn't say a word in reply. Her feet were heavy, but they continued to move down the corridors until they reached a deserted room. It had once been used for Potions class, but after some cauldrons exploded and caused a very untamable fire, they had moved classes to a different room.

Now, the room was empty and was never used for anything except random, rebellious things of students. Some weren't so random though. Like this. As they reached the room, Carrow shut the door with a small snap. The room was dark, but the three Slytherin girls lit their wands and shone them directly at Lily. She flinched a little at the light, but her eyes soon adjusted.

"Alright," Bellatrix said. "Let's begin, shall we?"

Lily sighed. She dropped her bag off her shoulder and reluctantly handed it to Bellatrix.

The other girl then proceeded to pull out all of Lily's books and throw them on the floor. She also pulled out the various pieces of parchment and proceeded to tear them into bits, including all the essays and homework assignments Lily had been working on.

She flinched as each piece of parchment was ripped apart, as her ink bottle was dropped and smashed on the ground, as they picked up her books, tearing them from cover to cover.

Lily knew she could easily repair the books with a Reparo charm, but the cruel look of satisfaction on the girls' faces as they ripped the spines of her books apart made her wand hand itch.

But now, they had finished tearing apart her belongings and they lifted their heads to look at her.

"Well, little Mudblood," Alecto sneered at her. "Ready for training?"

Lily knew what was coming. They called it "training," but that didn't make what they did any less sick. They were basically practicing for their desired futures, which was to fight side-by-side with Voldemort in the war that everyone said was steadily drawing nearer.

"You're a filthy Mudblood, Evans!" Umbridge yelled at her. At this point, Lily had grown used to the insults, but they still stung, no matter how many times she heard them. Umbridge was pointing her finger at Lily, but before she could utter whatever taunt that lay on her tongue, the door slammed open.

"What's going on?"

"Remus!" Lily gasped.

Remus Lupin stood there in the doorway, staring from Lily to the three girls to the demolished books and homework on the floor. "Lily, are you okay?" he asked quickly, hurrying to Lily's side.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Remus, but you need to go."

"What? No, I'm not going, c'mon."

And before Lily could object, Remus had taken her arm and was pulling her out of the room.

"You'll suffer now too, Lupin!" Carrow yelled after them. But before any one of them could say another word, Remus turned in the doorway, shielding Lily.

Lily watched as Remus pulled out his wand and pointed it at each of the girls in turn, muttering a spell under his breath. Suddenly, all three girls clutched at their throats.

"C'mon, let's go," Remus said. He grabbed Lily's hand and led her up the corridor again, back up into the light of the castle. When they reached the area just outside the Great Hall, luckily devoid of students now that dinner had ended, Lily looked at Remus.

"What was that?" she said. "What did you do to them?"

Lily noticed that Remus had a flicker of mischief in his eyes as he said, "It's a spell called Wadiwasi. It glues the tongue of the victim to the roof of their mouth. Don't worry, it's not gonna cause them serious harm or anything."

Lily pressed her lips together. She was torn between saying thank you and berating Remus. She finally decided on the latter.

"You shouldn't have done that," she said. "Now, everything will be worse."

"What do you mean?" Remus replied.

"They said they would hurt my friends if I told anybody what they were doing," Lily said.

"Dumbledore would stop them," Remus said. "Lily, if he knew any of what's been going on, those three would be expelled faster than they could say Slytherin. I heard what they were calling you."

Lily shook her head. "No, Remus, I won't risk it. They already hurt me, I won't let them hurt Marlene and Dorcas or any of my friends. And besides, it'll get better after this year once Umbridge has left. She's the one who started this whole thing two years ago."

"Wait –– two years?" Remus was shocked. He turned and faced Lily. "They've been doing this to you for two years now? Destroying your books and homework?"

Lily nodded. She sighed, running her hands through her hair. She started to pace, looking down at the floor.

"How did you know I was in trouble?" she asked, changing the subject.

"The full moon is in two days," Remus said. "For a few days before and after the full moon, my senses go haywire. I could sense something was wrong."

"You mean, you smelled me?" Lily asked, rather confused.

Remus chuckled. "No. It's not just my physical senses that get stronger. It's my intuition too. My wolfish instincts, you might say."

"Oh." Lily nodded. "That –– uh –– makes sense."

Remus laughed again. "It doesn't really, but thanks for making me feel less weird about it."

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "Remus, I –– I'm sorry for getting so angry at you. It's just a –– a stressful situation."

Remus nodded. "Yeah, I have a bit of experience in that department."

Lily smiled. "Yeah, I suppose you would." She slid her hand into Remus'.

"I like you, Remus Lupin," Lily said, starting to skip down the silent halls of Hogwarts, pulling Remus along with her. She grinned as he matched the motion.

"And I like you, Lily Evans."


End file.
